First Look - HP Spectre: an ultra-thin, ultra-stylish notebook

At just 10.3mm thick, the Spectre is thinner than Apple’s MacBook. And, while the MacBook is about 200g lighter, HP hasn’t compromised on processor power by including Core i5 and Core i7 CPU options.

Aesthetically, the Spectre is a very attractive device and contrasts significantly with many of the notebooks I’ve seen recently. In order to reduce the thickness of the Spectre, HP has designed a new piston-driven hinge system that makes the 13.3-inch screen, running at 1,920 by 1,080, look as if it’s suspended above the keyboard.

When launching a number of apps, such as Office, Edge and Netflix, the Spectre showed itself to be very responsive. Interestingly, HP has eschewed the trend towards touchscreens on Windows 10 devices and has stuck with a traditional notebook form factor, albeit with a combination of carbon fibre and copper accents so that it stands out from the crowd.

HP rates battery life at 9.5 hours. Power is via a ‘hybrid’ battery: it’s split into two banks of cells but engineered to work as a single battery in order to fit the power plant into the slim body.

There’s up to 512GB of storage available via a PCIe SSD and there’s also up to 8GB of memory.Intel’s hyperbaric cooling system integration keeps the machine running cool – an important consideration when packing that much processing power into such a confined space.

As well as support for all the usual wireless connectivity standards, HP has chosen to go with three USB-C ports – two of which support Thunderbolt connectivity.

The HP Spectre will be available in Asia Pacific and Japan from May with a starting price at US$1,249.

The HP OfficeJet 250 Mobile Printer is a great device that fits perfectly into my fast paced and mobile lifestyle. My first impression of the printer itself was how incredibly compact and sleek the device was.

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